


Comae Berenicids Falling on Winter

by eri_quin



Category: Skip Beat!
Genre: Amnesia, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Rehabilitation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 03:18:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11750964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eri_quin/pseuds/eri_quin
Summary: An accident causes Kuu Hizuri to lose his beloved wife and his memories. Kept safe and secret in Japan, Kuu is lost and alone. That is until he is assigned a caretaker by the name of Kyoko, who looks at him with such pained eyes.Slow burn Kuu/Kyoko romance.





	1. When the World's Been Painted Grey

The living room was empty and dark, but he didn't care too much at the moment. He tiredly watched the television, smiling slightly at the video of him about to promote his new movie. He'd worked with a nice kid on that movie. He wished he could be able to act alongside his son and spend time with him again. If only Kuon would just…

"Kuu Hizuri, everyone! Let's welcome him onto stage –"

He closed his eyes and turned off the TV, ignoring the blond strands that fell forward as he bent over and cradled his head in his hands. He loved acting. He really did. It was his beloved craft and he never wanted to stop.

But the ache of the empty, lonely house haunted him more days than not, especially with his sweet wife's increasing withdrawal and depression and the missing son whose presence never seemed to go away in the worse way.

"Kuu…" a soft, lilting voice reached his ears.

He opened his eyes slowly and looked over to his wife, with Juliena hovering by the entrance to the living room and giving him such a hopeless look.

"Yeah, Julie?" he asked, forcing a smile onto his face and pushing cheer into his voice, pretending he was okay. "Come here, babe," he opened his arms to his wife, giving her a tender look.

She swept forward and nestled herself into his embrace, sniffling quietly.

"I miss our son," Juliena said. "I wish he would just come home."

"I know, I know," Kuu murmured. "But he has to do what he has to do."

If only Kuon would just hurry up with it, so he could reunite with his family.

"Let's take a trip out," Juliena tugged at his collar. She wiped at her eyes and gave him a watery smile. "Let's just…let's just take a drive and not worry about anything. I want to get out of this house. "

He did too. It was too stifling and lonely, and the two of them bonded better outside of it than when they were trapped inside and couldn't even look at each other sometimes.

Kuu nodded and smiled at her. "Sounds like a plan. Let's go?"

She got off of him and he stood up from the couch. Holding each other's hands, they headed to Kuu's car and backed out of their garage, not deciding on a destination and just driving around as they had first thought to do. It was silent as a grave in the car though and Kuu would do just about anything to make the silence go away, to go back to how it used to be –him, Juliena and their perfect son happy and together. Kyoko, too, would've been happy with them and fitting in as if she had always been a part of the family.

"Do you think Kuon hates us?" Juliena asked, voice flat and quiet.

Kuu looked at her in dismay, wanting to pull over. "No! Of course not! Julie, don't –"

Whatever he was going to say, he never got to finish. All of a sudden, the loud screeching of tires sounded and all he could do was watch the car coming from the other side of Juliena, smashing into her side of the car and then there was nothing but blackness and silence.

* * *

The chestnut-haired girl took deep, even breaths, sitting very still as she tried to meditate as part of her continuous training for her role as Momiji (Uesugi-san would be very upset if he found out she wasn't!). Mogami Kyoko was a name that was going to be taken serious, and so help her, she was going to make sure she did a more than fantastic job on the role she had gone above and beyond to secure.

Because there was no way Kyoko was going to lose to Sho.

Letting herself grin a little and feeling giddy, she still almost fell off her perch when she heard Producer Kuresaki talk to her. Her eyes snapped open immediately and she looked to him, giving him her full attention and hoping she didn't look too silly in her meditation or just now when she startled at his presence.

"Good job today, Kyoko," he quietly praised her. "We managed to fit in more than the scheduled scenes today."

She smiled widely at him, feeling her cheeks warm up. "T-thank you, Kuresaki-san! And I'm glad. I hope things continue to go well."

Kyoko was happy to know Kuresaki was pleased. It was hard to please him –as was apparently widely known (though she hadn't until the audition) –Kuresaki was a strict, no-nonsense kind of guy and was usually very hard to please. That he was actually pleased meant that things really were going great.

"Alright! I'm off then," her co-star, Koga Hiromune stopped by them, smiling cheerfully. "I'll see you two tomorrow."

"Bye, Koga-san," she said brightly, though still a tinge shy. "See you tomorrow."

Koga was really fun to be around and he was nice. She was glad that he didn't mind helping her out and practicing with her, and even ridiculously claimed that  _he_ needed her help and was inspired by her too. It was still flattering a veteran actor like himself would pretend about such a thing for the likes of her.

Between he and Kuresaki, she really loved working on "A Lotus in the Mud."

Especially (squealing in her mind) since she finally got to work with her beloved Kanae! That, more than anything, made everything perfect in her world right now, and she was only sad that Kanae hadn't been on set that day and hadn't needn't to be there again until next week.

"You're drifting off again," she heard Kuresaki say in amusement and she flushed red in embarrassment. She gave him a sheepish look. "I'm sure whatever it was, was an amusing thought," his voice came out dry, but his face gained a small smirk.

Before she could reply back, surprised at him though, her cell phone rang and she confusedly dug it out of her purse. She didn't recognize the number, and didn't know if she should just ignore it or answer it. Eventually, she decided that it was probably best to answer it.

"Um, I'm sorry, Kuresaki-san. I'll just be a bit," she apologized, but he waved her off and gestured to her phone. She quickly answered it. "Hello?"

"Is this a Kyoko Mogami?" someone said professionally in English.

"Yes?" she said hesitantly, also switching to English. That drew a surprised look from Kuresaki that she looked away from in awkwardness.

"You were listed as an emergency contact by a Kuu Hizuri," the woman on the other line said to Kyoko, who stiffened up and felt herself start to breathe faster, feeling ominous about the call now. "We're calling to inform you that he and his wife have been in a serious car accident. Right now, they're both in surgery. We will call you –"

"Wait, is this America?" Kyoko cried out. "What's going on? I'm sorry, I don't understand –"

"Please calm down, Ma'am. I'm sorry, but at the moment, there's not much information I can give you. We'll call when there's been an update."

"Thank you," Kyoko said faintly, not resisting when the other hung up. She rushed to call President Lory. "President Lory, this is Kyoko. Did you get a call from America? Did anyone call you about Hizuri-san?"

"Mogami-kun? Yes, I was just called and heard about it just now. I promise I'll get more information, but in the meantime, would you like to come here and wait with me?" He too sounded distressed, but he was still kindly trying to reassure her.

"Please," Kyoko said, her voice having already become thick with tears she hadn't noticed had come and were threatening to fall right then and there. "I'll be there."

She hung up, before realizing that she didn't have a ride and would have to wait for the bus in an hour to get there and she couldn't just wait and do nothing when her mentor was hurt and something had happened –

"Kyoko, calm down. Breathe," Kuresaki's hands were on her shoulders and he was directing her to breathe in and out slowly, and she struggled to listen and follow his directions. "You're having a panic attack."

For a minute, he helped her calm down before she was calm enough for him to ask what happened. She wiped hurriedly at her face.

"I have to," she took in a shuddering breath. "I have to go to President Lory's office. Someone…someone close to us was in a car accident and I need to get there and find out what's going on. He promised he'd find out more. I have to get there. I have to…I have to…"

"Breathe," Kuresaki instructed her again and she did so.

"I have to get there," her eyes were teary again. "I have to get there, but I can't because I don't have a ride. The bus won't come for another hour and I'm stuck, but I need to get there.  _I need to get there_."

The urgency built up in her as much as the terror.

"Do you want a ride then?" Kuresaki asked and Kyoko looked at him in shock and utter gratefulness.

"Please," she croaked, sounding just as terrified and needful, as she had when she pleaded with the President to let her be there while they waited for information together.

"Let me retrieve my things," he said solemnly. "I'll be quick."

And while he was gone, Kyoko buried her face in her hands and cried.

* * *

" _What's the status?"_

" _Broken leg and femur…several broken ribs…might be brain trauma. We took him into surgery to at least get started on his leg before moving onto other problematic areas."_

" _So he's in the OR? What about the woman?"_

" _Died on the operating table. We tried to stabilize her in the ER, but when she was brought in for emergency surgery, we lost her."_

" _Damn…is he stable at least?"_

" _Yeah, got him in a good spot for now. He's been there a while, but we still need to keep a watch on him."_

" _Schedule an MRI once he's completely stable and awake, and cleared for it after the surgery. If we need to, we might have to schedule a CAT scan to look into any of that brain trauma, but we should save that at a later date. What medications is he on?"_

" _He woke up once he got to the ER, so we had to prep him with general anesthesia. He lost a lot of blood, so we've hooked him to receive a blood transfusion while he's being worked on. We haven't given him anything, until we're sure what he needs and can handle."_

" _Good –keep me updated. I have to give a phone call."_

Lory had been called out of nowhere as he was playing his favorite game. He'd been annoyed up until he actually answered and heard the first things out of the nurse's mouth.

And then he sat anxiously, trying his best to get more information, demanding to be redirected to whoever would help him best, until he'd been told that Kuu was in surgery and the doctor in charge of him was going to find out what he could and give him a call back. Kuu was being worked on and there was nothing he could do or be told until a new status update would be given.

And he hated that. But wait he would, just as he waited for Kyoko to come join him and the two of them would wait together in misery together.

Started 7/14/17 – Completed 7/18/17


	2. Loud Inside My Head (Words I Should've Said)

Her hands were anxiously wringing together on her lap as she was driven to President Lory's. There was this terrible, terrible  _throbbing_ in her chest, as if her heart was about to fall out of it and fall to the floor in front of her. All she could do was sit there, feeling a strange agony.

She didn't think she could feel any more in pain than when Sho had betrayed her until she saw her mother on TV and refusing to acknowledge her existence. She was surprised that it seemed as if she was being proven wrong again, and all she could do was beg anyone and anything that could hear her that her sensei and his wife were okay.

A hand patting hers knocked her out of her vicious cycle of thoughts, and she looked to her right to see Kuresaki looking forward as he drove.

"I won't tell you it's fine because I know it might not be. But there is chance that it will, so look to and hope for that," he told her softly and she felt calmed for the moment.

Because Kuu was someone she knew had spirit and fight in him and from what little he'd told her about Juliena, she was too beautiful a person to die like this. She had to keep hope, even though a part of her was still cynical and pessimistic enough to know that bad things can still happen to good people.

"I didn't know you spoke English," he said suddenly and she had a feeling he was trying to keep her mind busy.

"Ah, yes," she looked to him tiredly. "I learned it when I was younger. I don't know any other language though."

"It's well spoken," he complimented her. "If you ever go on to have a career in America, it'll be useful for you."

For a moment, she'd stared at him in shock and wondered if he thought she was actually good enough to have a career as an actress in America. Then she remembered Kuu as an actor from America and it down spiraled from there, as she morosely thought that she'd wanted to act with him, and it would've been nice to have done a movie with him in America.

' _It's not too late. He's still here. He's alive. You have to believe in that,'_  she told herself, struggling to stay positive.

Above all, she just wanted him to be okay.

Giving Kuresaki a brittle smile, she looked forward as well and tried to steady herself mentally.

"That's a nice thought," was all she said.

She stayed quiet for the rest of the ride, trying her best to keep positive and not break down in his car.

* * *

It wasn't long until they made it to LME and at the front was Sebastian, President Lory's personal assistant.

"It is good to see you, Kyoko," he said warmly, and she tried to smile and look fine even though she was decidedly not. He looked to Kuresaki. "Kuresaki-san, a pleasure to meet you. We're sorry it is at a bad time. Will you be taking your leave now?"

A hand laid itself on Kyoko's shoulder and steadied her, and she hadn't even noticed how she'd been swaying and looking to be toppled over at any moment.

"I will be accompanying Kyoko-san," Kuresaki said quietly and she felt a little bolstered by the support.

A brief look of surprise and hesitation appeared on Sebastian's face, before it disappeared as if those emotions had never been there. He took a step back and opened the door and Kyoko started walking forward mechanically. Once inside, Sebastian took the lead again and started forward, leading them quickly through the lobby and to some elevators, where he pressed a button and then the three of them waited tensely in the elevator.

"Has there been news?" Kyoko tentatively brought up.

Sebastian looked at her and gave a small smile. "Unfortunately, no. However, a doctor promised to call Takarada-san as soon as he had more information."

"Regarding Hizuri-san, I'm guessing this is being kept quiet for now," Kuresaki said and Kyoko was caught off guard, both at what he said and that he knew who she'd been panicking about. Then again, she remembered talking about Kuu to President Lory on the phone, so obviously he'd overheard her, especially since she was just talking in Japanese.

Sebastian nodded. "Yes. Takarada-san decided that it wasn't something that the public needed to know right away, given that he wasn't sure what was going on and he also didn't want the public to be alarmed about his and his wife's condition. He's attempting to control the situation with what information he has, especially for Hizuri-san's sake."

Kyoko hadn't even thought of that. She wondered if it would cause problems for Kuu if everyone found out –would they storm his hospital? Would there be silent vigils? She didn't know if it would be chaos or just sadness. Kuu and Juliena were beloved and she couldn't imagine the impact it would have on those who adored them to know they were severely hurt.

"We're here," Sebastian said as the elevator doors opened. They stepped out to a long hallway and the three of them silently made their way to enormous double doors. Sebastian opened those as well and President Lory was standing to the side of his large office, staring out of his industrial windows with a troubled expression.

"Sir, Kyoko and Kuresaki-san are here," Sebastian announced.

President Lory briefly gave a curious glance to Kuresaki before he came forward to them.

"Thank you, Ruto. You may leave," he dismissed before turning to the two. "Mogami-kun, I'm glad you're here. Kuresaki-san, what a surprise. I'm sorry you had to be here for such an occasion, but if you wish, you can leave."

Kyoko felt a brief moment of panic, because she didn't want to be alone in her anxiety. Though President Lory would be there as well, she knew that he would be in his own panic and grief at the situation, and she didn't want to burden him with her own troublesome feelings.

"I'll stay, if you don't mind," Kuresaki said instead and calmly placed a hand on her arm again, and she felt her breathing slow down. She hadn't even noticed it had sped up again.

She felt like a complete wreck.

"Very well," President Lory said gravely and then gestured to his couches. "Please take a seat."

Then his office phone rang and their eyes were drawn to it. The president headed over to it while Kyoko reluctantly went to the couch, followed by Kuresaki, and they sat down stiffly together. Her hands began wringing together again, and she closed her eyes painfully.

There was still so much she had to learn from him. More importantly, so much she had to say to him still. She wanted to make him proud, show him how much she'd grown as an actress. She wanted to be able to finally call him 'otou-san', like she hadn't been able to before.

She felt hopelessly young and lost. She'd never lost someone like this. Everyone she'd ever lost had purposefully left her behind, abandoning her and not looking back at her cries.

Kyoko wished she could rewind time, call Kuu more often and stay on longer on the phone when they did talk. They hadn't seen each other since the time they'd met, and she wished she could see him right now.

Regrets. All she felt she had were regrets right now.

"Were you close to Hizuri-san?" Kuresaki asked her softly, drawing her out of her hopelessness.

Without warning, two big, fat tears rolled down her face as she looked up at him and she hiccupped as she sniffled. She missed his alarmed look through her tears, but she didn't miss how he'd reached out and grabbed her hands comfortingly.

"Kuu-san is like a mentor," she said, trying to figure out what to say. "I was just on a Love Me assignment to accompany him and cook him Kyoto-styled cuisine. Instead, I met someone who I became very close to and who taught me so much. In some ways…in a lot of ways…he was what I hoped to have had in a father." She wiped at her eyes, taking a shaky breath.

He looked briefly surprised. "I see. I met him a few times and worked with him twice. He's a good man."

She was ridiculously thankful that he'd used the present tense.

President Lory finished on the phone then, thanking whoever he was talking to and then hanging up. He then looked to them, looking shockingly haggard.

"That was the doctor in charge of Kuu. Julie…Kuu's wife passed away," he revealed and Kyoko straightened up, her breath catching in her throat.

She'd never met Juliena, though Kuu had –the few times he'd talked to Kyoko about his wife –waxed as much poetry about her as he had his son. She was beautiful inside and out, and though Kyoko hadn't talked to her –having been told that Juliena had excitedly wanted their first meeting to be face to face – she'd been looking forward to meeting the model. Now she would never be able to.

"As for Kuu," President Lory started again and Kyoko felt anxiety grip her. "I was told he was currently in surgery. He's stable, but they told me that he at least has a broken leg and femur, and a few broken ribs. It's the possible brain trauma that we're concerned about."

Kyoko, unable to help it, let out a sob and held a hand to her mouth. A hand was rubbing her back, but she couldn't think or pay any attention to anything but the fact that Kuu might have some sort of brain trauma.

A cold glass of water was pressed into one of her hands and she was helped into drinking it. She calmed enough to find that President Lory was by her side and kneeling down in front of her, while Kuresaki was still beside her and had been the one helping her drink the water and had been rubbing her back. She gripped the glass tightly and looked to the president.

"What…what do we do now?" she asked helplessly.

"I will be going to America," President Lory told her quietly. "If you'd like to come with me, I can arrange it."

She did, of course she did. But then…

Both she and President Lory looked to Kuresaki, who immediately understood.

"It's fine," he told them. "I can adjust the filming schedule, so that you don't need to be there for a while. There are many scenes that need to be filmed that don't require you, and you've already performed quite well and filmed plenty of scenes ahead of schedule."

Kyoko gave him a grateful smile. She just wished that as she headed to America, that things would be alright. She didn't know if it would be though, and that filled her with dread.

* * *

Kyoko had packed a simple luggage and time seemed to have gone by as if she wasn't even in the present. Everything felt dull and she felt numb. She could barely recall anything happening aside from the fact that after what happened in President Lory's office, Kuresaki had finally left them.

It was silent in the office before the president had told her that she should get at least some clothes packed, and had then called over his assistant. Sebastian –no, Ruto was what President Lory had called him –had then taken her to her home in Darumaya, where she informed the elderly couple of what happened and where she was going. They'd bid her a safe journey and sympathies, and then Ruto had taken her straight to the airport where President Lory was waiting for her.

Then the two of them had quietly walked to a private plane, with Ruto following them, and then had gotten seated before the plane went to quickly lift off.

"You know, I am very glad that Kuu had gotten to meet you," President Lory said sometime into their flight.

She looked at him in surprise, but he just smiled sadly at her.

"He told me that his time with you had been precious and that it had become one of his very cherished memories. He and Julie had been in a very sad and lonely period then, but you'd become a bright spot that had helped, even Julie who had never met you. So thank you for that, Mogami-kun."

She blushed, not knowing any of that. "Please just call me Kyoko, President Lory," she replied with instead, because the thought of being so helpful and valued to those two overwhelmed her.

"Then it's just Lory outside of work," he gently nudged her, smile becoming a little less sad. "Any friend of Kuu's is a friend of mine," he even managed to tease.

She smiled slightly at him before it faltered. "Do you think he'll be okay?" she asked quietly.

The president – _Lory_  –gave her a mournful look. "I don't know," he told her. "I hope so and if I could summon all the love in the world to make it so, I would. But I am just a man and I know that there's very little I can do now, other than to painfully wait for my friend to pull through."

She licked her lips. "He'll be okay," she said firmly.

"You think so?" he asked and she nodded. He smiled brightly and patted her hand. "You're right. He will be. He's a stubborn dog after all."

But the two of them could only just hope there together.

* * *

She'd slept plenty on the plane, so when she walked onto the streets of Los Angeles in the early morning of the day, she felt wide awake. She knew jet lag would catch up to her, but for now, she was amazed by all the sights and sounds of the bustling city, though it wasn't quite yet awake due to the hour.

But then someone touched her and she looked to see a solemn Lory by her side, and she remembered again why and who they were there for. The reality of it hit her hard and she gave him a small smile.

Together they waited for Ruto to come around with the rental car, and in the end the both of them ended up tightly holding hands in comfort.

"I-if he's gone…" she began to say, voice crowded with tears. "If he's gone, I never even got to say goodbye to him!" Not like that, not to say how much he meant to her, how much she appreciated and loved him in her own way…

She began to cry and was pulled into a hug, which she reciprocated. Feeling him shaking, she realized that Lory was crying too or at least holding tears back, which made her hold onto him tighter.

They only separated when Ruto pulled to a stop in front of them, and they both took a moment to try to calm down. They then got into the car and Ruto didn't mention their sorry, miserable states as he started to drive out of there.

The drive to the hospital was a quiet one, where it was filled with uncertainty and a certain amount of dread that filled them. At some point, Kyoko and Lory had held hands again and tried not to let thoughts of Kuu haunt them.

But it was a hard thing, as the very thought of him hung over their heads and they couldn't escape the thought of being too late.

Too soon, they were at the hospital and Ruto left them at the front, while he went to go find parking. Lory held tightly to her hand, looking more and more anxious as he came towards the hospital. Kyoko didn't even want to know how she looked.

He eventually managed to find out where Kuu was being held and had then maneuvered her to there, still holding onto her hand like it was a lifeline. They found the area and was buzzed in, and Lory wasted no time in finding someone and trying to find out where Kuu's room was. But that seemed good, right? He was being held in a room and wasn't in surgery any longer. That meant good things, that he was okay. Right?

Just as they got the room number, they were interrupted by someone who told them he was the doctor in charge of Kuu. Lory finally let go of her hand and stepped towards him, but he did turn to her and give her a reassuring smile.

"Go on. I'll meet you in his room," he said.

She nodded and hurried away, wanting to find and see Kuu already. She found his room number and entered cautiously, not knowing what she'd find.

The room was still dark, blinds close and lighting dimmed down. She hesitated before turning on the lights, fumbling for the light switch. She then stepped further into the room, the door closing behind her as she walked away from it and dazedly towards the still figure on the bed.

Kuu lay on the bed, face darkened with bruises and his nose looked like it had been broken. He was covered in a blanket, but she could still see his leg wrapped up. An IV drip was hooked up to his arm, and there was a machine monitoring his vitals. The beeping coming from it was eerie, the only noise breaking the silence in the room.

There was a pain in her chest as she sadly sat by his side. She leaned closer to him, her hands gripping the metal railing.

"Good morning, Kuu-san," she choked out, trying to act and sound normal. "I came to America to visit you. Finally, right? Even though we talked about it a lot before, I never really got to do it until now. You need to wake up so you can show me around, like you promised. Y-you promised."

She bit down on her lip, not wanting to cry.

Kyoko had really hoped he'd wake up, but he hadn't. Still, she wasn't going to give up on him. She was here now and she had to be there for him.

And when he woke up, she was still going to be there for him and she wouldn't let him heal on his own.

Started 8/4/17 – Completed 8/6/17


End file.
